Second fire breaks out at FPG complex

Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團), one of Taiwan’s largest industrial conglomerates, yesterday saw yet another fire break out at its petrochemical complex in Mailiao (麥寮), Yunlin County.

Yesterday’s fire, the second at the complex in a week, broke out at 11:47am and was put out at 12:23pm. According to FPG, the fire did not damage any equipment at the complex and no output would be halted.

Industrial Development Bureau Director-General Woody Duh (杜紫軍) said yesterday that the incident was caused by residual gas that leaked during last Thursday’s fire.

Last week’s fire broke out at a utility unit’s liquefied petroleum gas pipelines at 8:40pm and was not put out until early on Friday. The Yunlin County Government slapped the corporation with a fine of NT$2 million (US$69,300) for that fire.

Duh said the Ministry of Economic Affairs has ordered a probe into the cause of the latest incident. Yunlin County, meanwhile, criticized FPG for the incident and demanded that the central government pay more attention to the industrial safety of the Mailiao complex.

FPG said in a statement that yesterday’s fire broke out at the same site of last week’s fire because of the gas leakage. The group said it had not been allowed to fix the damaged pipelines because the authorities were still investigating the initial fire.